Meta pauses third-party Horizon VR headsets program

Meta has “paused” its program to license its VR working system to different {hardware} firms so they might construct their very own headsets utilizing the platform, as reported by Highway to VR .

With this system, introduced in April 2024, Meta introduced that it might be licensing the Quest OS headset — which, on the identical time, it additionally renamed to Horizon OS — to {hardware} makers like Lenovo and Asus. In a weblog submit on the time, Meta mentioned that this system would give “extra option to customers and a bigger ecosystem for builders to construct for.” CEO Mark Zuckerberg mentioned in a video that “our purpose is to make it in order that the open mannequin defines the subsequent era of computing, once more with the metaverse, glasses, and headsets.”

However now, Meta is pausing this system to concentrate on its first-party choices as a substitute. “Now we have paused this system to concentrate on constructing the world-class first-party {hardware} and software program wanted to advance the VR market,” Meta spokesperson Johanna Peace says in a press release to The Verge. “We’re dedicated to this for the long run and can revisit alternatives for Third-party gadget partnerships because the class evolves.”

Meta not too long ago delayed the launch of combined actuality glasses codenamed “Phoenix” from the second half of 2026 to the primary half of 2027 and is starting work on a brand new Quest gadget, based on inside memos reported on by Enterprise Insider. The corporate is reportedly axing as much as one-third of its metaverse finances subsequent yr, and a spokesperson says that Meta is “shifting a few of our funding from Metaverse towards A.I. glasses and wearables.”